About Ardentinny....

Ardentinny is a quiet, coastal village of approximately 150 residents
set in Argyll Forest Park on the western shore of Loch Long at the foot
of Glenfinart. Its land and seascapes are outstanding in every season
and its forest walks and sandy beach attract visitors throughout the
year. It is served by a regular bus service to & from the ferries at
Hunters Quay and Dunoon and can also be approached by road via the A82
from Glasgow and then the A815 and A880.
Though small, the resident community of Ardentinny is very active in
caring for its village via the the Village Hall committee; the Community
Council and Community Trust; and through the work of individuals
and small businesses. old.ardentinny.org is created to provide current
information on Ardentinny for its residents and visitors alike.

Webcams and Videos
Video and webcam content at old.ardentinny.org is mainly Flash Video (.flv) format. If you do not see the video in your browser, please download and install the Adobe Flash player.

Dunoon Radio launches tonight on the web

Dunoon Community Radio 97.4fm (DCR) will begin streaming via the web through The Dunoon Observer and Argyllshire Standard website tonight Friday 5 March between 18:00 and 22:00pm GMT. To listen in, click here to enter the homepage of the Dunoon Observer then scroll down the left hand side of the page until you reach the DCR play button. Enjoy!

[Breaking News] 5 March, 2010.

Dunoon Radio launches tonight on the web

Dunoon Community Radio 97.4fm (DCR) will begin streaming via the web through The Dunoon Observer and Argyllshire Standard website tonight Friday 5 March between 18:00 and 22:00pm GMT. To listen in, click here to enter the homepage of the Dunoon Observer then scroll down the left hand side of the page until you reach the DCR play button. Enjoy!

[News] 4 March, 2010.

Dunoon Community Radio

Dunoon Community Radio 97.4fm (DCR) will shortly be launching a weekly programme "Cowal Village", featuring interviews with local people. Ardentinny is bursting with busy, talented folks, so let's tell the world via the airwaves what we are about! If you would like to take part, email Dunoon Community Radio, visit www.dunooncommunityradio.org or text the presenters on 0775 123 6995. The good news is that DCR will shortly be streaming transmissions via the web to the world (and Ardentinny!), so what are you waiting for?

What's on in and around Ardentinny?

Your Feedback on the Public Meeting with National Park Authority

29 of the 50 attendees at the Public Meeting, held in Ardentinny on 26th January, completed feedback forms which were provided by The Community Council. The results are as follows:

Question 1. Were you given sufficient information to understand the planning issue and its possible impact on the village in order to attend and take part in this meeting?
26 responded Yes
3 responded No

Question 2. Did you consider the Community Council and Working Group conducted an equal and fair meeting, allowing important points to be raised and answered?
28 responded Yes
1 responded Don't know

In the Media

Residents express their views at public meeting.

[Click image to enlarge]

/var/www/old.ardentinny.org/docs/pictures/pubmeeting2601/titles.txt

A 50-strong gathering of Ardentinny residents expressed dismay and more than a little frustration at the Public Meeting held in the village hall on Tuesday 26th January. Dismay at the continued, albeit scaled down, proposal to build 10, as opposed to, 36 affordable housing 'units' in a village with no employment opportunities and a distinct lack of amenities. Frustration at the perceived lack of transparency and willingness by The National Park Authority to respond to officially posed questions and expressed concerns.

The meeting was chaired by Community Council Convener, Val Kennedy. The National Park Authority was represented by Gordon Watson, Director of Planning and Rural Development; Terry Levinthal, Chair of the Planning Committee; and Diana Worthy, Planning Officer. Gordon Watson opened the meeting with a presentation on where they are in the planning process. He stated that the driver for their current housing policy is concern at population decline within The National Park and, in particular, the decline of householders and people of working age.

Community Councillor and Working Group Member, Dennis Gower, spoke on behalf of the Community Council. He noted that of the total responses the Park had received, over 20% had come from Ardentinny and he said that while the village was not against housing full stop, the majority was against housing in Ardentinny in its present state. He commented that the Community Council had sent a formal, reasonably detailed response re the Draft Plan in which they asked 10 clear succinct questions which they thought deserved an answer or some kind of reasonable explanation. This has never been received and the Community Council shared the Working Group's frustrations at the stalling tactics of the National Park when asked to provide answers to their questions and concerns. He also quoted from the Scottish Government's response to the Consultation in which it said that the National Park had not provided a clear justification for the allocation of housing within particular areas, of which Ardentinny is one. He thanked the Park Authority for finally agreeing to come along to the Public Meeting and asked that they give full consideration to what the residents had to say and to adhere to the primary aims of the National Park which are to conserve and enhance the culture and heritage of the area. He also asked that they apply a great deal more common sense, which received loud applause.

Why Ardentinny?
Argyll and Bute Councillor and Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, Gary Mulvanay asked the question 'Of all the places in this big National Park, why Ardentinny?', particularly when there was such a clear steer from the community that they did not want this proposal. He asked what the driver was? For example, was it people in work who needed housing in the area? Councillor Bruce Marshall responded by saying that, in his youth, Ardentinny was a vibrant, viable village with jobs, kids, a school and post office which have all gone because there are no young people. He suggested that now the village was dying on its feet. One resident suggested that it was a work thing, not a housing thing. Gordon Watson said the driver was the housing need identified by Argyll and Bute Council and that within Argyll and Bute there was a shortage of suitable sites. They had identified this site in Ardentinny as one that would be suitable. This was an issue that became increasingly more obvious as the meeting progressed, i.e., that Ardentinny had been earmarked for affordable housing more because of the availability of a suitable site, rather than in response to a housing need, particular to Ardentinny.

A vibrant village not a dying one
There was strong objection from the floor that Ardentinny was a dying village. One resident cited the vast amount of talent in the village, small businesses, artists and crafts people and said that, while Ardentinny is a changed village, it is a very vibrant, going forward village. A view which was strongly supported by the majority.

Apology and lessons to learn
One of the residents reiterated the concern that the Park Authority had not responded to the questions posed by the Community Council and suggested that, had they been more open and provided answers to questions, it would possibly have saved a lot of time and angst and avoided the rather confused and hostile environment the Park representatives found themselves in. Gordon Watson stated that it was never the NPA's intention to mislead the community or not respond to questions and said he could only apologise if things had been missed in how they responded to responses and they hoped to learn lessons from it, with regards to how they handle responses in the future.

Many other issues were touched on ,e.g., flooding at the site and the impact on nature; the national criteria for access to affordable housing; house types etc. would depend on agreement between the housing authority and housing association; and that local authority housing needs would dictate. However, it would appear that one of the overriding reasons for selecting Ardentinny as a suitable location for affordable housing was the identification of a suitable site at Lochview.

The Finalised Draft Local Plan consultation begins on Friday 19 February 2010 and closes on Tuesday 6 April 2010. Response forms and all relevant documentation will be on the National Park website at that time. There will also be a Local Plan Drop In Session on 24 February in the Younger Hall, Kilmun.

Consultation Visit to National Park Headquarters

[Click image to enlarge]

/var/www/old.ardentinny.org/docs/pictures/ballochvisit/titles.txt

Members of Ardentinny Community Council and the Proposed Housing Development Working Group visited Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park HQ on Friday 15th January. There, they were able to study the Park's consultation documents regarding the proposed affordable housing development south of Lochview in Ardentinny. This provided useful information which has since been fed back to the community, with a view to better informing them prior to the Public Meeting with representatives of the Park Authority to be held in the Village Hall on Tuesday 26th January at 19.00 hrs.
In the Media...National Park visit in Dunoon Observer & Argyll Standard (pdf 70kb)

Ardentinny Caravan Park

Further to old.ardentinny.org's interview with MP Alan Reid to express concerns made by Ardentinny residents on a range of topics, Alan Reid made enquiries with regards to the caravan park. He has since received the following response from the Director of Corporate Services, Argyll and Bute Council.

Thank you for your email regarding Ardentinny Caravan Park and concerns your constituents have on the conditions on site and occasional burning.

The Councilís Environmental Health service is investigating these matters and will take appropriate action under the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960. The issues being pursued at present relate to the general conditions on the site and the excessive number of caravan units against the license conditions.

In respect of burning, the EH service have served formal Notices under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to prohibit burning where the conditions are such that would cause a nuisance to adjoining residents.

There are ongoing discussions between the service and the site owner, and depending on the success of these discussions, we will need to consider whether there is a need for further formal action

I hope this is helpful. The Council is taking appropriate action to address these matters

Further to to your letter of November 27th. addressed to the Ardentinny Proposed Housing Development
Working Group kindly respond to the following.

With reference to your first paragraph, comments were not addressed to the National Park, they were simply comments expressed by those present at the Community Council meeting. We would appreciate your advising us (a) what were the comments and (b) by whom.

You seem to be under the misapprehension that you have answered the questions raised both in the original responses from Ardentinny village and from those put to you since, by this Working Group.

We note that you have "met with a limited number of respondents", but as far as we are aware, no-one in Ardentinny has any knowledge of any meeting with yourselves and letters from this Working Group have raised questions but received no answers, contrary to the statement in your letter.

We are extremely concerned that it is intended to publish a finalised Draft Plan in February 2010 without Ardentinny having had any opportunity to follow up their written concerns regarding the contents of the original plan. The only communication with any information about review of the Local Plan has been from Councillor Bruce Marshall and the information he has verbally given us is now refuted in your letter.

We suggest that you cannot endorse a finalised Draft Plan as you say, on December 14th.2009, when there has been no consultation on the Ardentinny community's objections and concerns since February 2009. We cannot accept any part of the Local Plan unless you are prepared to consult properly, with us, as representing the village community and we will be advising the Community Council and all residents of this letter and our present position.

Referring to your letter of 15th. May 2009, the Report on Consultation was due to be made available by autumn 2009. There is so far no sign of this and we would be interested in seeing this report as soon as possible.

In light of the above we are requesting an appointment, prior to the 14th.December, to view all the responses pertaining to Ardentinny which should include reports from the partner agencies ( SEPA, Scottish Water and the four local authorities that cover the Park )

Yours sincerely,
Pauline Gordon, on behalf of
Ardentinny Proposed Housing Development Working Group